Should Everything Be Free?
Every once in awhile we see an unsubscription notice from our free newsletter saying something like “I don’t like the ads” or “I didn’t sign up to be sold to”. It’s not often we send out advertisements either, aside from a few links at the bottom of the newsletter.
I’ve had similar feedback from websites from people who think there should be absolutely NO ads of any kind (and trust me, I use advertisements sparingly).
What I think people fail to realize is how much work goes into sites and newsletters. Do they really have the right to get huffy when an ad gets snuck in content or sits at the top of a page? I tend to think both Anita and myself do a pretty good job of giving away a whole lot of free content, but for some it doesn’t seem to be enough. Any hint of an ad and it’s “how dare you make me buy something!”.
So should the internet be completely free? Do website owners and newsletter publishers have no right to attempt to sell something along with their free content? Should we just be doing all this without any compensation?
Your fellow WAHM in success,
Kara
Topics: Just Venting | 1 Comment »
May 10th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Ya know, I think this is one of those times that another lesson is needed …
You cannot possibly make everyone happy so stop trying.
Luckily for Kara and I, the compliments outweigh the negative feedback by a long shot. (And that’s not taking a chance for us to brag – that’s a reminder that as long as you provide a quality newsletter and promote it to the correct market regularly – you’ll get there too
)
However, that said … this is a chance to remind you that you simply should not always allow negative feedback bother you. As I already said, you’ll never make everyone happy and unfortunately for all of us there are quite a few out there that you’ll NEVER make happy.
As Kara mentioned, we try very hard to keep the advertisements down to a minimum. I’ve seen way too many newsletters/ezine publishers that send nothing but ads. In comparison to those – we send out NO ads, lol!
For the most part, we don’t send out anything more than once a month – and sometimes not even that much. It’s also plain and clear on our subscription pages that we do send out the occassional advertisement so our subscribers are well aware in advance.
Do keep in mind however, that if you request a reason as to why someone unsubscribed, you’re not always going to like what you see. Remember that general feedback can help you w/ your newsletter. This is a way for your subscribers to tell you what they didn’t like. Take this feedback w/ a grain of salt. This could be an opportunity to improve. It may be something that you weren’t aware of or something you just didn’t think of.
If it’s a legitimate complaint and is something within your control – then consider making the appropriate actions to make it better.
Anyway, I got way off topic (what’s new, right? lol)
No, absolutely not everything should be for free. The subscribers of the newsletter in question are all in direct sales so, these people most of all should realize that we are in business to MAKE MONEY.
Do these consultants, representatives etc give all their products away?
Should we give all of our products away?
I’ll be honest with you, just like Kara mentioned … we give a good deal of information away for free. I feel positive I can say we give a lot more free information than our subscribers give away free product. Am I wrong?
We don’t criticize our subscribers for selling a product. So why should we be criticized for having products for sale?
Another note to keep in mind is that if you’re not willing to invest into your business … how on earth can you expect others to do so?